Wiliam Shakespeare and his wife Agnes juggle marriage and parenthood in rural, late 1500s England as he strives to make a name for himself as a playwright in London. When a devastating tragedy strikes, Shakespeare channels his family’s grief into his iconic, famous play. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal star in this fictional historical drama.
Oscar-winning co-writer/director Chloe Zhao (Nomadland) has a lyrical way of weaving the beauty of nature and human connection into her storytelling, making her fictional drama based on the facts of the Shakespeare family’s life a transportive, sensory experience. The film captures the simple beauty, brutishness and brevity of life in that bubonic plague-ridden time and place. The production, costuming and score are all outstanding.
Acting wise, Buckley, as Agnes (pronounced ahn-YES), is a standout, capturing the raw, gut-wrenching pain of losing a child. Mescal has less screen time, his scenes at times feeling a bit hammy by comparison. (Hey, he was Shakespeare.) Jacobi Jupe and Olivia Lynes, as the youngest children Hamnet and Judith, are exceptional, capturing the special emotional bond of twins. And having Jupe’s older brother Noah (A Quiet Place, Honey Boy) portray the character Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play in the film’s final act is casting genius. While not perfect, Hamnet illustrates how art can help us process grief.
REEL FACTS
• Chloe Zhao wrote the screenplay with Maggie O’Farrell, based on O’Farrell’s 2020 biographical novel, which speculates on what Shakespeare’s life may have been like. O’Farrell chose to go with the name Agnes, instead of the more commonly used Anne, since it was used in Shakepeare’s will prior to his death in 1616.
• Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley both appeared in 2021’s The Lost Daughter but shared no scenes together.
• Louisa Harland (Orla from Derry Girls) has a brief role in the film as Agnes’ mother.
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